History

The Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) was originally established as Coconut Research Station, Kumarakom in the year 1947 with the financial support of the Indian Central Coconut Committee in order to cater to the research needs of coconut in the reclaimed alluvial soils of Kuttanad. Initially the land required for establishing the station was obtained on lease from the late Mr. Robert George Alexander Baker (link is external), an enterprising European planter. However, in 1958, an area of 23.23 ha was acquired from Mr. R.G.A. Baker by the Government of Kerala and the station was brought under the State Department of Agriculture. With the establishment of the Kerala Agricultural University in 1972, the Coconut Research Station became one of the constituent institutions of the University. In 1982 the station was upgraded to the status of a Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) under the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) funded the IBRD/ICAR with the mandate for research on crops and cropping systems in the Special Zone of Problem Areas comprising `Kuttanad', `Pokkali' and `Kole' tracts.